The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) has two tiers of competition. The top tier is the World Tour, which determines the annual world championships for men and women. The second tier is the World Qualifying Series (WQS). This tier helps determine which surfers qualify for the World Tour n the following year. Both tiers run to a calendar year schedule.

The Rip Curl Pro Search is the ninth of 10 events scheduled for men in 2009. (Australia hosts two, the USA has two (one in California and the other in Hawaii) and Brazil, Tahiti, South Africa, France and Spain each have one). It will be the fourth of seven stops for the women (after three in Australia and before one in Peru and two in Hawaii).

Each World Tour event is like a Formula One Grand Prix, in that each competitor’s final placing in each contest earns them points that ultimately determines the annual World Champion and the year’s final world rankings.

Only the world’s Top 45 ranked men and three wildcards compete in men's World Tour events. Only the world's Top 17 ranked women and one wildcard compete women's World Tour events.

An event wildcard is a non-ASP World Tour surfer allowed to compete in the ASP World Tour event. The wildcard is typically awarded by the event sponsor, awarded through a trials event or through automatic entry at the discretion of the event organiser and the ASP.

Typical candidates for the ASP World Tour event wildcard will typically come from the event sponsor's team, the local area, or both. Not only do these surfers complete the seed list and/or fill in for injured surfers, but they also bring exciting new faces and challenges to the ASP World Tour elite.

Most ASP Women's World Tour events only have one wildcard (this event is Pauline Ado) and most Men's events have three.

Contest length varies depending on the amount of surfers entered into the contest and the event format. The amount of surfers in a competition will determine how many heats, which will determine how many rounds will be needed to crown a champion.

The approximate amount of time needed to complete a men's ASP World Tour event is three or four full days of competition. The minimum waiting period for any men's ASP World Tour event is eight days, and the waiting period for any women's ASP World Tour event is five days.


The waiting period is the allotted time in which event organisers can run an event. Having a waiting period that is longer than the time needed to finish competition allows organisers to be selective when running their heats. This gives both the surfers and spectators the benefit of having the event ran in the best possible conditions.

Priority is mandatory in all one-on-one heats. The surfer with priority has unconditional right of way for both directions on the wave selected. The surfer without priority cannot take off on the same wave as the priority surfer, regardless of direction of distance between them, unless the surfer without priority does not hinder the scoring potential of the surfer with priority, in which case the surfer without priority will score a zero.

At the start of the heat once the first wave has been ridden, the remaining surfer in the lineup gets automatic priority. A surfer will lose priority once they catch a wave and their hands leave the rails as they attempt to stand up. In the event that both surfers catch waves to the inside, the first surfer to reach the lineup will be awarded priority. Priority is indicated by colored discs at the event site.

The priority rule serves several purposes.

First and foremost, the prioirty rule attempts to eliminate hassling for waves. Without priority, surfers would have nothing to keep them from fighting for waves with their fellow competitors. The priority rule allows surfers to focus more on their surfing performance instead of hassling their opponents.

Secondly, the priority rule makes judging easier by detering surfers from taking off on the same wave. With the encouragement of one surfer per wave, the judges can focus better on each individual ride.

Finally, the priority rule allows for a tactical element to exist in competitive surfing. Surfers tend to become much more selective of their wave choice in order to retain priority for the optimal amount of scoring.

The priority rule doesn't exist in Round 1 of World Tour competititions, unless the new man-on-man elimation format is being used.

The priority rule was instituted in the mid 1980's and has been modifued over the years to keep abreast of competitive surfing.